If I Ever Get Out of Here

by Eric Gansworth

Lewis Blake is the only Tuscarora reservation kid tracked with the "brainiacs" in... read more

Lewis Blake is the only Tuscarora reservation kid tracked with the "brainiacs" in junior high. Sixth grade was a social disaster-it turns out white kids don't get Indian humor-so he starts seventh grade in 1975 determined to have a better year. He's even cut off his braid in hopes of fitting in. George, a recent arrival to the nearby air force base in upstate New York where they live, becomes his first, and only, white friend. The two initially bond over a mutual love of music, especially the Beatles and Paul McCartney and Wings. Surprised that George's military father and German mother genuinely welcome him into their home, Lewis knows he'll never be able to reciprocate the invitation. Money has been tighter than ever since his grandfather died, and the house where he lives with his mother and Uncle Albert is literally falling down. So he lies about why George can't come over, although in many ways Lewis has much more in common with George than with Carson, his closest friend on the reservation. In a narrative full of humor and rife with tender, honest, and unsettling truths, author Eric Gansworth explores identity, and what it means to find and be a friend. Gansworth's first foray into young adult literature lovingly captures both time and place, and reveals characters whose complexities bring sadness, joy, and survival into full relief. In a novel that exposes racism both subtle and overt (seen most vividly in the subplot involving the school's unwillingness to punish the son of a school donor who is bullying Lewis), Gansworth also celebrates two very different but equally loving families. (Age 11 and older)

© Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2014

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